Chicagoland: Winning team press conference, part 2

Continued from part 1
Q:
When Jimmie passed you with 16 laps to go, you said on the radio, "Race
over." I guess not. Why would you give up like that, I guess, and did you
is surprise yourself with being able to come back and win?
KYLE...

Q:
When Jimmie passed you with 16 laps to go, you said on the radio, "Race
over." I guess not. Why would you give up like that, I guess, and did you
is surprise yourself with being able to come back and win?

KYLE BUSCH:
Did I surprise myself? Yes. Without that caution, the race
was over. I mean, just judging by what was in front of me and what I knew at
that given particular point, the race was over. Jimmie was going to lead us
to that checkered flag without that caution.

So when that caution came out, it kind of changed everything, and just
trying on that restart doing whatever I could to get back by him. The car
stuck on the outside and I just drove it for all that it was worth and gave
it everything I had, and I know Jimmie gave it everything he had. If the
roles were reversed he would have done the exact same thing and I probably
would have been pretty TO'd.

It's good to be in this position rather than his, and I've been in his
position before; he's been in my position plenty of times before, too.
There's role reversals all the time and fortunately for us tonight, you
know, the lords were praying down on us.

Q:
Has there been a time where you said, "race over," or you thought it in
a type of situation, and have you had a situation like that where you maybe
thought it and came back and won?

KYLE BUSCH:
Not really. I mean, typically last year and the year before,
whenever we saw Jimmie Johnson coming with about 100 to go, 80 to go, 50 to
go and he would take the lead, I was always like, "Race over," and he would
go on to win and I was pretty much right.

I think this is the first time I said "race over" and Jimmie Johnson didn't
win. You know, sometimes things change and that's why you never give up in
this sport, I guess and you always keep working.

And there's guys that are running tenth or 15th that could some day probably
just go out there and whoop our butt every week. That's why we have to keep
ahead of everything. We weren't the best car out there tonight especially
during some runs and we have to make our car to make it more "mo" better
I guess, to be able to go out there and compete and try to lead more and
win.

Q:
Last year you mentioned this, too: Jimmie Johnson passes everybody by
and it's race over. Tonight the story that probably 80 percent of the
people was: Jimmie Johnson says not so fast Kyle Busch; I'm still a two
time defending champion, yada, yada, yada; was this a sort of you and him
stare down? Because he's won the championship the last two years and you've
been the story this year. Could this be a race we go back to and say, right
there is sort of where the gauntlet was thrown down?

KYLE BUSCH:
I don't think so. I mean, we can go on into Charlotte, Texas,
Atlanta, anywhere, I mean, anywhere from here on out and I could be leading
the final restart and Jimmie do the same thing right back to me. He's got
experience at that.

So for me to just think that it's going to boil down to us two, that's
silly. We have others guys to worry about: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth,
everybody; Denny and Tony, I'm sure they will have some good runs in the
Chase.

You know, Jimmie, being a defending champion I have ultimately the most
respect for him, Jeff Gordon, anybody in this sport and to go out and beat
guys like that, it's something that's pretty special and I really cherish
that. And being able to have the competitive nature that I have just to go
out there and try to see wins and get wins, it's all about it.

Q:
Do you think having intimate knowledge of being around Jimmie and that
organization for three years, that you kind of expect or have a better idea
of what he's going to do? Do you feel like you have a better idea that you
can defend what he's going to do, had you not spent the last several years
at Hendrick?

KYLE BUSCH:
In this case it didn't really help me much, but in other cases,
yeah, it really helps out, because I know sometimes what they do at
restrictor plate tracks; I know what they are going to do at restarts
there at restrictor plate tracks, not tonight.

There are sometimes where you're not sure exactly what's going to happen
and, tonight you just had to think it all through and play it out by ear.
You could have planned that restart 100 different ways, and it could have
turned out so different. Fortunately for us, it was the right way to do it
and put us in the right place.

Q:
I know it's hard to quantify it, but is this the most satisfying or the
best win of the season for you, just the way you did it?

KYLE BUSCH:
Not necessarily. I think Infineon was a big one. I think
Talladega was a big one, and even Atlanta, just being the first one for
Toyota and first one for me at JGR and stuff.

This was a big one. I felt like it was a great chance for me to get out
there and beat the two time defending champion and being able to out race
him or out duel him in the final two laps and get the job done.

I know there's going to be plenty of more times where it will be reversed
and I'll have somebody doing that to me. But you know, it feels pretty good
to be on the other side of it for once.

Q:
Can you talk about how you became so good at these restarts? When you
were younger, you probably focused on it; talk about getting to this point
where you're just darned good at these restarts.

KYLE BUSCH:
Well, I mean, you try throughout the years my dad was
probably my biggest influence on restarts and helping me. You know, there's
some keys to it that help you out and I'm not going to tell you. I'll
keep those for myself and for my dad, he'll know.

Besides that, it's just about anticipation. It's about visualizing
something that's not yet there, but just trying to think of all the
different scenarios that can happen, and with all the different type of
racing that I've done over the years, whether it's been dirt or legends
cars, late models, everything, there's been so many different types of
restarts that I've ever had that ultimately, you know, you start to see a
trend or you start to see something, and you know, very rarely do you see
something that hasn't happened yet.

But you know, there's still plenty of times I'm sure I can learn something
more. Just having the right anticipation and being able to get it through
the gears right.

Q:
Can you talk about where you tapped the wall during turn four or nudged
it; what happened and did it affect your car in any way?

KYLE BUSCH:
Just loose off. We couldn't get the loose off out of it. I
think I was leading. A few laps later, I don't know, ten, 15 laps later
Carl came by me there. I was just over driving the car a little bit, not
getting it down in the corner and bottom of the racetrack and getting the
four tires stuck to the track before I would accelerate; and when I would
not do that and accelerate I would be all over the racetrack on the exit and
I just slid up too high and just nudged the wall there.

I don't think it really affected much or changed it much. Once I calmed
down and cooled the right rear tire down when Carl got by me there, I got
back into a rhythm.

Q:
For a long time, the 18 was kind of the bread and butter of Joe Gibbs
Racing. I was wondering if you could just talk about not just with JD and
Joe, but the guys on the team, what they are feeling like this season to
have the team back as the No. 1 team at Gibbs.

KYLE BUSCH:
All I see are smiles, man. They are just so ecstatic. That's
great to see and that's a great feeling for me to have guys that can get as
worked up as I can about racing. And you know, not just because we are
winning and we are running well; we are communicating and talking and
working well with each other and we are able to be friends off the
racetrack, too, and go out and celebrate, have a good time, and yet still
focus on what the job and the task at hand.

That's the best part, and I mean, there's so many great guys and girls at
Joe Gibbs Racing that work there, and work so hard every week. And whether
they are in the marketing department, the machine shop, anywhere at Joe
Gibbs Racing, they are there for a reason and that's to win and win
championships.

So for me to get there and for this thing to be as special as it is this
year is just great, because it means so much to those guys, not just to me
but to those guys and their families to know that their hard work is finally
paying off.

And Tony had a great run tonight, too. I want to say that; that he looked
really, really strong and I thought he was going to be the Job Gibbs car
here tonight to beat. Unfortunately, I don't know if they made an
adjustment that didn't work out or what but still, he had a good run.

Q:
You sounded so humble on the radio after you won, is this season, what's
going on, having that effect on you?

KYLE BUSCH:
It is. I don't know how to put it, but it's just so different
I guess, you know, with being able to win one race a year or two races a
year, you know, you try so hard and yet you get so down on yourself because
you can't and now this year, it's just like, wow, this is something that's
crazy. You know, this doesn't come along very often.

I know Jimmie won I think ten races the past two years and Jeff's done it in
the past, and you know, this to me, I never dreamed of it for myself. You
always see it happen with somebody else and you feel good about them being
able to do that and Jimmie last year, you know, I was over there and I was
just like, man, what do we have to do to get some wins here, he's just
taking them all.

Now that that feeling has come upon me, I know how he felt you have to stay
humble and yet stay hungry and go out there and do what you can in order to
survive in these races and to survive up front and try to win. Somehow,
it's paying off and it's working out and I'm just so proud of the effort.

Q:
You've won some races this year with great cars and great driving,
tonight you got some luck on your side. Are you starting to feel this is a
charmed season for you; do you have a gut feeling going here that this may
be the one?

KYLE BUSCH:
I really don't know. I mean, I think somebody said to me last
week, do you feel like you're going to wear it out, you know, because Jeff
Gordon I guess, he had the beginning of the year the first 26 races just
sewn up and was gone, and then in the final ten, he finished second in
points, which wasn't bad, but he didn't just quite had the luck or spark
that he had in the first 26.

I'm hoping we don't lose it. There's definitely been some luck in this
first part of the season. You know, you've got to have some of that to win
some of these races. Some people say you would rather be good than lucky.
Some people say would you rather be lucky than good. I would rather have a
little bit of both and be able to go out there and capitalize with all of it
on your side.